The new year brought in some changes at blogging empire Gawker Media, as one of the company’s most tenured editors left the site to join Vox Media, parent company of The Verge.

Business Insider confirmed that Chris Grant, formerly of AOL’s Joystiq, hired Kotaku’s editor-in-chief Brian Crescente over to Vox ahead of the launch of a major gaming vertical. In his place, managing editor of Kotaku Stephen Totilo will move up to the EIC position. Other changes include sliding Joel Johnson- who has worked in various editorial positions at Gizmodo, Kotaku and former Gawker property Consumerist- over to Jalopnik.

Jalopnik EIC told the Observer in an email:

“Joel’ll be bringing over his talent for feature and review development. In the new role, he’ll be mixing his love of motoring with his love for gadgets and video games to help us build the next generation of auto enthusiasts.”

Of the decision to move to The Verge, Crecente said:

“The Joystiqs and Kotakus of the world will do fine, but like newspapers, they’re publications that are rooted in their birth.”